This invention relates to a method and system for gathering data along points of travel using common electronic devices that are typically used for other primary functions. More specifically, the data gathered by these electronic devices can be accessed, processed, validated and used in conjunction with, or alone, to produce, augment, and/or validate other data sets across wide ranges of science and technology.
The phenomenon of atmospheric turbulence is caused from a variety of meteorological forces including atmospheric heating, cooling, pressure, and density change. The typical method used for determining atmospheric turbulence uses a series of techniques that involve calculations applied to weather models. Several weather models exist and around the world there are different weather models. Typically, the meteorological components within these models are somewhat the same; but what differentiates them from one another is the geographical space they cover, the resolution of coverage within the space, and the frequency by which the models are generated.
Currently, there is a turbulence model produced by NOAA that uses the Rapid Refresh (RAP) model. The RAP in conjunction with other meteorological and non-meteorological data produces an hourly National Turbulence Product known as the Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG) model. Some airlines further enhanced this data by adding data points generated from particular sensors located on their aircraft. This equipment automatically downlinks the data via radio frequency and data link channels to ground based systems that then refer the data back to the airline where it is ingested and used in a variety of ways.
Portable devices are increasingly used for multiple tasks that range from navigation, motion detection, telephony, to video and/or photographs, to computing, to audio, and other entertainment and instructional uses. Portable devices may be used to facilitate communication, including via a communication service. Such devices may include mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable video/music players, electronic books, electronic book readers, tablet computers, portable gaming devices, and the like. Some of such devices include the iPad (trademarked by Apple, Inc.), the iPod (trademarked by Apple, Inc.), the iPhone (trademarked by Apple, Inc.), the BlackBerry (trademarked by RIM, Inc.), the Android (trademarked by Google, Inc.), Android-based devices, and other portable devices.
It would be advantageous to provide an apparatus, method, and system that would include one or more of the features of 1) monitoring aircraft turbulence and other motions; 2) monitoring portable electronic device motions, including motions coordinated with an aircraft's motions; 3) communicating motion data to a communication link; 4) sharing the motion data with other aircraft and air traffic control entities; and 5) providing instructions on how to avoid entering areas of air turbulence.